At the October 10th NJPW’s Declaration of Power event, KUSHIDA was originally scheduled to meet the current IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion Taiji Ishimori in a non title match. KUSHIDA who has been out of action lately due to suffering from hand, foot and mouth disease has not been cleared to compete on this event.
NJPW announced today that Master Wato will be stepping in as a replacement for KUSHIDA.
After KUSHIDA's absence, @Master_Wato's challenge to @taiji_ishimori has been accepted!
The two will face off in singles action Monday in Ryogoku!https://t.co/hvIqUf93Al #njpw #njpower pic.twitter.com/29m7YaPjBt
— NJPW Global (@njpwglobal) October 8, 2022
Master Wato was originally slated to team with Ryusuke Taguchi, Hikuleo and Hiroshi Tanahashi against Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO, and Yujiro Takahashi. That match is now a 6 man tag match as Dick Togo has been removed from the bout.
NJPW posted this on their website with full detail of the changes:
Yesterday the announcement was made that as a result of his continuing recovery from illness, KUSHIDA will not be able to wrestle his scheduled singles match with Taiji Ishimori on Monday October 0 in Ryogoku.
In the wake of the decision, Master Wato would issue his own challenge to Ishimori, suggesting that the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion ‘assess’ someone different. Ishimori accepted the non-title challenge, and now the match is official for Ryogoku!
As a result, what was an eight man contest now becomes six in the third match of the night, with Hikuleo, Ryusuke Taguchi and Hiroshi Tanahashi set to take on HOUSE OF TORTURE. Another set of champions in BULLET CLUB that seem reluctant to defend their belts, will this Hontai trio, with the huge Hikuleo making for a big time addition, force H.O.T’s hand into a future title match on Monday?
The full card for NJPW Declaration of Power is as follows:
- IWGP World Heavyweight Title Match: Jay White (c) vs. Tama Tonga
- Kazuchika Okada vs. JONAH
- NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling Title: Shingo Takagi (c) vs. El Phantasmo
- Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI vs. Great-O-Khan & Jeff Cobb
- Taichi & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Bad Dude Tito & Shane Haste
- Taiji Ishimori vs. Master Wato
- Ren Narita Homecoming Match: David Finlay, Ren Narita & Robbie Eagles vs. DOUKI, El Desperado & Yoshinobu Kanemaru
- Ryusuke Taguchi, Hikuleo & Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. EVIL, SHO & Yujiro Takahashi
- BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA & Tetsuya Naito vs. Aaron Henare, Francesco Akira, TJP & Will Ospreay
